KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Maja Stark shot a 6-under 66 Friday to take the lead after two rounds of the LPGA Tour’s Maybank Championship, with a 34-year-old American only one stroke behind.
Storms compelled an early cease to play, with about 12 gamers — all of them a number of strokes out of the lead — having to halt their rounds however they had been capable of full them later Friday.
Stark had a two-round complete of 12-under 132 on the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Nation Membership course. The Swedish participant’s spherical included 4 consecutive birdies from the tenth by way of thirteenth holes.
The veteran American was Marina Alex, taking part in in her twentieth match this 12 months and with two profession wins since becoming a member of the tour in 2013. Alex had the perfect spherical of the day, her 64 shifting her up 24 locations on the leaderboard to second.
Alex was tied with South Korean participant Narin An, who birdied her last gap for a 67, and two different gamers.
The American birdied the sixteenth and 18th holes and acquired an enormous bonus when she holed out from the golf green for an eagle on on the par-4 seventeenth.
“I imagine it was 131 (yards), barely downwind,” Alex mentioned of her 9-iron method on 17. “The wind has sort of simply been just a little bit in every single place right here. I don’t know if there may be some storms coming by way of.
“I believed it’d come up just a little bit brief however pitched three or 4 brief and it went in. It was actually powerful to see as a result of I’m standing a bit decrease and the inexperienced is a contact elevated. The folks up by the inexperienced had been fairly pumped about it.”
First-round chief and tour rookie Mao Saigo was a kind of affected by the suspension. After taking pictures a gap 63, she accomplished her spherical Friday with a 74 and was at 7 below, 5 strokes behind.
Defending champion Celine Boutier shot 69 and was at 8-under, 4 strokes behind Stark.
Boutier has been one of many hottest gamers on the Asian swing, with back-to-back top-10 finishes at Shanghai (tied for ninth) two weeks in the past and in South Korea (2nd) final week.
Boutier’s win final 12 months was something however routine within the match’s first 12 months. Boutier and Jeeno Thitikul tied for first place at 21-under par, then performed a nine-hole playoff which the French participant received. The playoff tied for the second-longest in LPGA Tour historical past .
Retaining tempo along with her playoff associate from final 12 months, Thitikul additionally shot 69 Friday and was degree with Boutier at 8-under.
Hannah Inexperienced, who earned her third victory of 2024 and sixth of her profession final week in South Korea, shot a 69 and was at 4 below, eight strokes behind. Brooke Henderson shot 74 Friday and was 2 below.
